Law Soc, Bar Council asked to relax rules

As the university lecturers' strike spills into June, pressure on the Law Society and Bar Council to relax their stringent rules and allow students unable to graduate entry onto the LPC and BVC has stepped up a gear.

The chair of the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools Professor Michael Gunn has reiterated BPP Law School's and the College of Law's calls for the Law Society and Bar Council to allow students who are unable to graduate to start the LPCs and BVCs.

In a draft letter to the Law Society and Bar Council, seen by The Lawyer, Gunn said: "Clearly, this is no fault of the students and we would wish to see if an approach can be identified that does not put them at an unnecessary disadvantage."

Meanwhile, the Law Society and Bar Council have been contacting universities to establish the severity of the crisis. A Law Society spokes-person said: "The information we have at the moment is very piecemeal."

The Law Society is hoping to finish this exercise in time for the next Education and Training Committee meeting, scheduled for mid-June. The committee will then report to the society's Regulation Board, which has the power to amend the rules.